Night light construction



Allg 18, 1964 CHAN CHEUNG NIGHT LIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed March 18 UnitedStates Patent O M' 3,144,992 NIGHT LIGHT CONSTRUCTION Chau Cheung, 1-7Nam 0n St., Shakwan, Hong Kong Filed Mar. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 265,629 lClaim. (Cl. Mtl-6.4)

This invention relates to a night light and more particularly to onewhich is portable and self-contained.

It is an object of the invention to provide a night light which has acircuit maker which, when the light unit is placed upon a table or othersupporting surface will keep the circuit open from a battery within thebody of the light to a light bulb carried by the body and wherein, whenthe light unit is raised from the supporting surface, the circuit makerwill complete the circuit to the light bulb to illuminate the same. Whenthe light unit is replaced upon a supporting surface, the circuit willbe broken and the light extinguished.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lightv with a circuitbreaker as described above, wherein the circuit breaker can be adjustedto maintain the circuit in a closed or open condition regardless ofwhether the light unit rests upon or is free of any supporting surface.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a night lighthaving a simply constructed and readily adjustable circuit maker, aportion of which comprises means for holding the several parts of thelight body together.

The above and other objects will more fully appear from the followingdescription in connection with the accompanying drawing:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of an embodiment of the invention withthe battery and its support, the wiring and portions of the circuitmaker in broken lines;

FIG. 2 is a sectional detail, on an enlarged scale, of the base of thelight and showing the structure of the circuit maker;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the base of the light takenapproximately as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

The structure illustrated includes a lamp body 4 having a bottom section6, a top section 8 and a handle 10, said handle being suitably securedto the bottom section 6. The two sections 6 and 8 are secured togetherby means of a bolt 10 which extends upwardly through a central portion12 of the bottom section and through the top section, and its upper endcarries a knurled ornamental nut 14. The lower end of the bolt 10carries a serrated nut 16 which of course can be rotated to move itupwardly and downwardly on the bolt 10.

Supported in the lower section 6 is a pair of conventional metal clips18 adapted to support a small battery 2t) such as used in ashlights.Supported by the forward underside of the upper body section 8 is a lampsocket 22 adapted to receive an incandescent lamp 24 in the usualmanner.

Secured to the underside of the lower portion 12 of the lower bodysection 6 is a resilient contact 26 which has an enlarged intermediateportion 28, shown in FIG. 3, provided with a central opening 30 throughwhich the bolt 10 extends. The opening 3l) is somewhat larger than thebolt 10 but smaller than the diameter of the serrated nut 16 on thelower end of said bolts. Thus, the resilient 3,144,992 Patented Aug.`18,1964 ICC Contact 26 can be moved generally upwardly and downwardly intoand out of contact with the nut 16, and continuously out of contact withthe bolt 10.

As viewed in FIG. 1 when the lamp body 4 is held by the handle 10 out ofcontact with any supporting surface, the resilient contact 26 will flexdownwardly and engage the nut 16, thereby establishing a circuit fromthe battery 20 through a conductor 32, through the resilient contact 26,nut 16, bolt 10 and a conductor 32 through the lamp socket 22 and thenceby a conductor 34 to the center pole of the battery 20.

When the lamp unit is placed upon a supporting surface, the :ilexiblecontact 26 will take the position shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 1 the freeend of the flexible contact 26 is shown extending below the bottom ofthe lamp body 4. When placed upon a support, the exible conductor 26will first engage the supporting surface and as the lamp body contactsthe supporting surface, the contact 26 is lexed upwardly to the positionof FIG. 2, so that the Contact 26 is out of engagement with the nut 16and the light circuit is broken. Thus, the night light can be placedupon a table beside a bed and it will not be lighted until it is pickedup by the user. However, the nut 16 can be adjusted on the threaded bolt10 so that the nut is in a position above that shown in FIG. 2 and incontact with the exible contact 26 when the lamp is resting upon asupporting surface so that the light will remain on whether or not it isresting upon a support.

When the device is prepared for packaging and shipment, the nut 16 canbe threaded downwardly on the bolt 10 to a position where it will not becontacted by the flexible contact 26 even when the lamp body is out ofengagement with a supporting surface. This permits the lamp to beassembled complete with the battery 20 in place and there will be nodanger that the circuit will be accidentally closed during shipment andstorage.

Another feature of the axial adjustment of the nut 16 on the threadedbolt 10 resides in the fact that if the flexible contact 26 should bebent out of its original position, the nut 16 can be adjusted on thebolt 10 to compensate for any change in position of the exible contactin a direction axially of the bolt 10 when said flexible contact is atrest.

It should of course be understood that various changes can be made inthe form, details arrangement and proportions of the various partswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

In a portable self-contained night light, a body having means forsupporting a battery therein, a lamp socket on the body having means forelectrical connection with one pole of a battery carried by saidbattery-supporting means, said body having a downwardly open recess inits bottom, a stationary contact in said recess having means forelectrical connection with the other pole of said battery, saidstationary contact comprising a threaded post of electrically conductivematerial and an electrically conductive nut threaded thereon foradjustment axially of the post, a movable contact in said recess andextending below the bottom of the body and being spring biaseddownwardly to engage said nut when the light is raised from a supportingsurface, said movable Contact comprising a member having means forelectrical connection With said other pole of said battery and beingsupported for movement relative to the body and said post andintersecting the path of movement of said nut When said nut is adjustedon said post, said movable contact, when the light is placed upon asupporting surface, being shiftable by engagement with the supportingsurface to a position out of engagement With said nut, and said nutbeing adjustable toward and away from said movable contact.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS{ammerstein Oct. 21, Floraday Nov. 28, Stein Oct. 24, Schroyer Dec. 20,Frank Oct. 30,

